Scottish Life's success drives new business sales at Royal London

PENSIONS group Scottish Life posted a 62 per cent rise in new business for the first half of the year, driving the performance of parent company Royal London.

New business sales at Scottish Life reached 1.1 billion in the six months to 30 June, up from 694m in the corresponding period last year.

While some of the growth reflected the first-quarter "spike" caused by the change in the minimum pension age - prompting a flood of business as new clients looked to use the firm's asset release product - second-quarter new business was 53 per cent up on the 2009 interim figure.

John Deane, chief executive of Royal London's intermediary division, told The Scotsman: "Scottish Life enjoyed record sales in 2008 and then again in 2009, so these figures are not flattered by any weak period during the recession."

Overall, Royal London - the UK's largest mutual life insurance and pensions group - posted a 35 per cent rise in new business sales to 1.6bn.

Royal London 360, the company's asset management division, returned a 20 per cent increase in new business sales, reaching 153m.

But the firm's insurance brands - Scottish Provident and Bright Grey - continued to be buffeted by the downturn in the housing market.

With fewer people buying houses, life insurance sales continued to dwindle, with Bright Grey's new business figure down by 21 per cent to 75m and Scottish Provident falling by 17 per cent to 95m.

Royal London employs some 3,000 staff, including 1,330 in Scotland, with a further 300 jobs north of the Border outsourced to Capita.

Deane added: "I'm very pleased with how our businesses in Scotland have performed.

"You've heard a lot about the problems within the financial services sector over the past two years but here we have people doing a good job and growing the business as a result."